Alabama takes title in ‘snooze fest’

University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide won their second national championship in three years last night. Photo by: David Reber's Hammer Photography

BY STAYSON ISOBE, Couchsideshow.com contributor

It is what it is. The BCS seems to be here to stay, regardless of what the general public wants, and whether you believe that Alabama deserved or didn’t deserve to play for the championship game last night, there’s no denying that they are the best team in the country now.

Now count me as one that full heartedly believed that Oklahoma State deserved the chance to duke it out with LSU last night at the Superdome. For one, it’s hard for me to fathom the fact that a team that doesn’t win its own conference, much less even play for their conference title, can compete for the national championship in the case of Alabama, while teams like Oklahoma State or even Oregon won their respective conferences.

In addition, Oklahoma State had a much more impressive resume when compared to the Crimson Tide. The guys from Stillwater had more wins against ranked teams and teams with winning records than the guys from Tuscaloosa, and oh yeah I did mention that they won the Big 12, the second best conference in the nation this season in my opinion, right?

Oklahoma State aside, a lot of the displeasure about this title game was that it was a rematch of a regular season game. Not only a rematch, but a rematch of a 9-6 game that was dubbed “the game of the century” going into the first meeting. Sure these two teams from the SEC have the two best defenses in the country, but really nobody could put the ball in the endzone? The fact that we’d already seen these two teams play once, and an ugly game at that, gave us even more reason to hope for an LSU-Oklahoma State matchup. Who wouldn’t have wanted to see Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon take a shot at this vaunted Tiger defense. I know for a fact that we wouldn’t have needed to wait until 4:36 remaining in the game for the first touchdown of the night.

All that aside though, after watching Alabama dismantle LSU last night, who am I to argue that they aren’t the best team in the nation and most worthy of being the “national champions?” Sure it was a snooze fest for most if not all of the game, but Nick Saban’s squad dominated every facet of the game. The Tide outgained the Tigers 384-92, they held LSU to 2-12 on third downs and only five first downs. LSU didn’t even cross midfield until midway through the final quarter. Plus, maybe even more impressively, Alabama committed just one penalty the whole game. And it was a measly defensive offsides penalty on LSU’s final punt of the game.

Alabama came, conquered and blew the Tigers out of the water Monday night. Heck, it was the first shutout in a BCS bowl game! The system isn’t perfect and a playoff would’ve been a dream this season maybe more than any other year. But as someone that was disgusted to see Chris Fowler reveal that we’d have a LSU-Alabama Part Deux to determine the national champion, I am man enough to congratulate Bama as the deserving champion this year. There’s no doubt in my mind who the clear No. 1 should be and will be. Never thought I would say this, but please don’t try to convince me that Oklahoma State deserves a split of the title.

Roll Tide, Roll. But to be safe in years to come, can we please get a playoff system in place?

Stayson Isobe works for the Northern Arizona University Media Relations Department. He is a special contributor to Couchside and one we hope returns with even more blogs. We at Couch Side would like to thank Stayson and encourage readers to like, share and rate this post. If you have questions for Stayson or any of the other Couch Side writers or would like to become a part of our team as a contributor, please send us an e-mail in the mailbag section of our homepage.

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